Professional Documents
Culture Documents
EMR7
EMR7
,
. "
No.7 July 1968
oes n
KENNETH GABURO
Music for Voices,
Instruments &
Electronic Sounds
Antiphony III:
(Pearl-white moments)
Exit Music I:
The Wasting of Lucrecetzia
Antiphony IV:
(Poised)
Exit Music II:
Fat Millie's Lament
The New Music
Choral Ensemble &
Members of the
University of Illinois
Contemporary
Chamber Players
Kenneth Gaburo, conductor
H-71199
ec ronc usc
on onesuc
ANDREW RUDIN
Tragoedia
a composition in
4 movements for
electronic-music
synthesizer
Another in
Nonesuch Records'
continuing
commission series
of original
musical works
created especially
forthe Lp
record medium
H-71198
Suggesled lisl price $2.50
For complete catalogue, write
NONESUCH RECORDS
1855 Broadway, New York, N. Y. 10023
P6611 ACQUAINTANCES (7 min)
Flute, Contrabass, Piano
P6829 AMBAGES (9 min)
Flute Solo
P6826 BLIND MEN (15 min)
Mixed Voices, 3 Trp, 2 Trb,
Bass Trb, Tuba, Perc, Pi
P6616 THE EMPEROR OF ICE CREAM
(14 min)
8 Voices, Percussion, Piano,
Contrabass
P6618 EPIGRAM AND EVOLUTION
(60 min)
Piano
P6612 FANTASY FOR PIANIST (17 min)
Piano
P6619 FOUR ETUDES (8 min)
Flute Quartet
P6828 GATHERING (10 min)
Woodwind Quintet
P6622 GRAFFITI (9 min)
3 (2 Picc) 333,4331, Timp,
Perc, 2 Hps, Pi, Str
P682? MASKS (25 min)
8-pt Mixed Chorus,
2 (Pice) 22 (Eb) 2, 4221,
Timp, Perc, Pi (2), Str
P6620 MOSAIC (12 min)
Flute and Piano
P6661 QUICK ARE THE MOUTHS
OF EARTH (18 min)
3 Fl (Picc), 3 Vc, Ob, Trp,
Trb, Bass Trb, Pet'c (2), Pi
P6623 STRING QUARTET NO, 2 (14 min)
String Quartet
P6624 WEDGE (70 min)
2 Flutes (Piccolo), 2 Trumpets,
2 Trombones, Tuba, Percussi011,
Contrabass, Piano
C. F. PETERS CORPORATION
373 PARK AVENUE SOUTH NEW YORK, N. Y.10016
Contents
EMscope 6
Roger Reynolds
It(')s Time
Wal ter Carlos
A Variable Speed Tape Drive 18
Paul Strok Adler
Some Problems and Prospects 21
in Copyrighting Electronic Music
Robert Erickson
Tube Filters 27
Tod Dockstader, Tristram Cary, Walter Carlos, Edward Tatnall Canby, Jonathan Weiss
Reviews 30
Contributors 45
MEMBERSHIP/SUBSCRIPTION FORM 47
Index of Advertisers Limelight Records 48
Moorman/Paik Legal Fund 45
Nonesu ch Re cords Cover II, 11
4
Acoustic Research ............. 7 .
Ampex .. , ............ '" '" . '" '" . '" . '" '" '" .. '" . 5
Associated Music Publishers ... 44
C.F. Peters .. "' ...................... 3
Dolby Laboratories ........... 1
E I e ctrodyne ............ 46
Gotham Audio ............... 9
Scully ...... Cover III
See/Hear Productions .... 6
Theodore Presser . .47
University of Toronto Press . 8
Wiegand Audio ................. .. .. 10
ELECTRONIC MUSIC REVIEW
5
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The MM- 1000 tape transport is designed to handle
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I AMPEX I
Ampex Corporation
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EMscope
COURSES
Villa Schifanoia announces a general orientation course in electronic
music, commencing with the academic year 1968-69. The course will be
conducted by Pietro Grossi, and will be open to interested persons of
all disciplines. A computer will be available. Further information is
available from the Dean of the School of Music, Villa Schifanoia, via
Boccaccio 123, 50133 Florence, Italy.
The Institute for New Music of the Rheinische Musikschule will hold a
composers' course October 3 - December 21. The lecturer in electronic
music will be David Johnson. Further information is available from
Rheinische Musikschule, 5 Koln-Ehrenfeld, Vogelsangerstrasse 28-32,
Germany.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Bois, Mario. Iannis Xenakis. 1968. Boosey and Hawkes, 30 West 57
Street, New York City 10019. Softbound, $1.50.
special SEE/HEAR productions
spring '68
Awake In Th Red Desert
a recorded book by bill bissett
64 pages and a 12 inch 33 1/3
stereo record
$6.00
fall '68
Oh See Can You Say
a recorded book by jim brown
60 pages and a 12 inch 33 1/3
stereo record
$6.00
6
see/hear productions
SEE/HEAR
See Hear
Sea Hear
See Here
Sea Here
Sea Hair
SeerHear
Seeeeear
Seeeeeer
Seeeeeee
Seeeeeee
Seeeeeer
Seeeeear
SeerHear
See Hair
See Hear
Sea Hear
Sea Here
Sea Hair
5619 Dunbar Street, Vancouver 13, B.C., Canada
a recorded magazine of contemporary sound arts
-a unique quarterly sound magazine in the form
of a record with connected visual materials
-will include poetry, music, sound poetry, and
electronic music
-emphasis on the contemporary and experimental
-visuals may be open or graphic scores, printed
poems, poetry "concrete", drawings, art work,
slides, etc., and explanatory notes
-each recording will be 12",331/3 LP stereo
with international contribution and distribution
-introducing special SEE/HEAR productions such
as records, recorded books, tours, and performances
The first issue, SEE/HEAR NO.1,
September, 1968.
Single issues ........ . ...... . $4.00
Outside N. America .......... $5.00
Yearly, four issues .. ... .. .. . $15.00
Outside N. America .. .. .... . . -$18.00
ELECTRONIC MUSIC REVIEW
ED SOREL
ON INNOVATION
Mozart, perhaps in jest, once suggested that the clicking
of the balls as he played billiards, gave him rhythmic
ideas. On another occasion, Mozart wrote to a friend
that he could no more account for the style of his music
than he could explain the shape of his nose. Spoken in
a television interview today, or published in the popular
press, such statements by contemporary experimentalists
inflame the philistines to whom the accidental and irra-
tional appear to be the end of art, instead of its beginning.
Even in the humdrum, rather constrained and logical
world of physics and acoustics, those to whom the old
way is the only true way are often startled by a novel
integration of familiar principles. We bring this up
because AR was responsible for such an integration in
1955- the first acoustic suspension loudspeaker system-
and everyone associated with sound and music repro-
duction ought to know about it. By using the air inside
the speaker cabinet as a spring to keep the speaker cone
centered, instead of using the edge of the speaker itself,
as everybody else did, AR was able to reduce distortion,
extend bass reproduction, and, incidentally, accomplish
this in a cabinet so small that many people would not
believe it until they had heard it.
Write for a catalog.
ACOUSTIC RESEARCH, INC.
24 Thorndike Street
Cambridge, Mass. 02141
Music Educators Journal (special issue on electronic music, with de-
monstration record). Vol. 55, No.3, November 1968. Music Educators
National Conference, NEA Center, 1201 Sixteenth Street N.W., Washing-
ton, D . C. 20036. 85
Musical Happening (first issue). No.1, September 1968. Arco Special-
ties, 3748 Van Ness, Dallas, Texas 75220. Subscription, 6 issues,
$1.00 (foreign, $2.00).
Pellegrino, Ronald. An Electronic Studio Manual (with tape). 1968.
Ronald Pellegrino, 35 Webster Park, Columbus, Ohio 43214. Softbound,
$8.50, + tape, $3.50.
Pierce, John R. S c i e n c e ~ Art and Communication. 1968. Clarkson N. Pot-
ter, Inc., 419 Park Avenue South, New York City 10016. Hardbound,
$6.00.
RECENT STEREO LP RECORDS
COLUMBIA MS-7176 - Karl-Birger Blomdahl (Aniara: Suite of Electronic
Int erludes), Gyorgy Ligeti (Atmospheres; Lux Aeterna) , Morton Subot-
nick (Electronic Prelude and Interludes from "2001: A Space Odyssey") .
LIMELIGHT LS-86050 [re-release of PHILIPS (Canada) PHS-600-047] - Tom
Dissevel t / Kid Bal ta n (Song of the Second Moon) .
8
A Bibliography of Electronic Music
LOWELL M. CROSS
This exhaustive bibliography includes all available citations
of books, articles, and monographs pertaining to "Musique
concrete, " "elektronische Musik," "tape music," and
"computer music" from publications in fourteen languages.
There are 1563 entries. $5.00
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS Toronto/ Buffalo
ELECTRONIC MUSIC REVIEW
GOTHAM EQ-lOOO Universal Equalizer
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These products were selected f rom the
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for brocrnres by number and letter.
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AUDIO CORPORATION
2 WEST 46 STREET, NEW YORK, N, y" 10036 212-CO-5-4111
LIMELIGHT LS-86052 - Bengt Hambraeus (ConsteZZations II; Interferen-
ces) .
LIMELIGHT LS-86054 - Mecki Mark Men.
LIMELIGHT LS-86055 [re-release of EPIC BC-1118] - Henk Badings (Cap-
riccio for VioZin and Two Sound Tracks; EvoZutions - BaZZet Suite; Ge-
nese) I Dick Raaijmakers (Contrasts) .
NONESUCH H-7l208 - Morton Subotnick (The WiZd BuZZ) .
ORPHEUM SN-3 - Bulent Arel (EZectronic Music No.1; Fragment; Music for
a Sacred Service: PreZude and postZude) I Mario Davidovsky (Study No.
2) I Vladimir Ussachevsky (Improvisation No. 4711; Linear Contrasts; Me-
tamorphosis) .
PHILIPS (France) [number unknown] - Bayle (Espaces inhabitab-
Zes; L 'Oiseau-Chanteur; Lignes et points [1966 version]) .
TRANSATLANTIC (United Kingdom) STRA-16l - Ron Geesin (A Raise of Eye-
brows) .
VOIX DE SON MAITRE (France) CVC-2086 - Iannis Xenakis (Atrees; Morisma-
Amorisma; 080262).
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10
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ELECTRONIC MUSIC REVIEW
In the Fall of 1967, Nonesuch launched
a continuing commission series of electronic music,
special ly composed for the LP record medium.
Now, another milestone in the electronic-music fleld-
onesuc
UI e 0
ec ronlc USIC
a comprehensive survey of electronic music and its creation
by Paul Beaver & Bernard L. Krause
Included are
2 stereophonic LP discs,
containing recorded examples
of electronic music and sounds;
the score to Peace Three
(a new electronic composition
presented here for the first time);
a meticulously prepared
16-page booklet with
notes on the recordings,
an introduction to
electronic-music theory,
glossary, bibliography,
and symbolic notation.
THE NONESUCH GUIDE
TO ELECTRONIC MUSIC
unique, fascinating, essential!
HC73018
List price $7.50
NONESUCH RECORDS
1855 Broadway. New York. N.Y. 10023
It('}s Time
Roger Reynolds
Sounds, and recently silences, are reasonably well-understood by composers - empirically, at
least. Structure in sonority and succession is also treated with some assurance (less as it diver-
ges from well-established patterns and arithmetical supports). Time, however, is generally ig-
nored (or is it avoided?), and the result has been some unfortunately misplaced allegiances.
Typical of these is the idea of symmetry or proportion in temporal structure. Whether in clas-
sical molds or predetermined, contemporary asymmetries, this idea depends upon the listener's
ability to accurately estimate long periods of time, and to retain these estimates. But results
of studies in time perception confirm intuitive suspicions of such architectural borrowings. A
"symmetrical" musical structure is as unrelated to the experience of architectural symmetry as
the wing in fl ight is to a "west wing" in function.
A perception, as opposed to a memory or an expectation, is an experience which seems totally
in the present (no part of it seems "past" before the whole is finished). Its duration is normally
2 or 3 seconds, but in the case of small groups of stimuli it may extend to as much as 5 seconds,
including, perhaps, 25 - 30 items. The most accurate estimation of time intervals themselves
occurs at about 0.75 seconds, though, generally, short intervals are overestimated and long
intervals underestimated. When one deals with numbers of minutes instead of seconds, errors
become very large . The actua I experience of time, then, is direct and accurate only in the
very short term. Subjective judgments about it are affected by so many factors that generali-
zations can, at th is time, do no more than indi cate tendencies .
For example: is the duration to be judged fi lied (a continuous sound or homogeneous collection
of sounds) or ~ (its extremes marked by sol itary impulses); is the judgment made by verbal
report, by reproduction (where the listener activates what he believes to be an identical inter-
val), or comparison (signal A is or is not equal to signa! B); if the interval is empty, are the
limits marked by events in the same sense modality (two sounds) or by different ones (one visual
and one aural) (Sounds from different sense modalities are difficult to integrate for judgment.); is
the signal heard against a background of noise and reproduced against a background of silence,
or vice versa? All the above influences are further complicated by the effects of set (formed
by the listener's experience, expectations, etc.) and by the voluntary or involuntary exercise
of attention . (If two signals arrive at the brain simultaneously, the one which is attended to
will appear to precede the other.) Short-term memory also plays an important part in our ex-
perience of time. But memories are vivid and accurate in direct relation to when (how soon)
and in what order they are called upon.
This array of influences hasn't crippled listening in the past, and it might seem unimportant if
we weren't interested in enlarging the range of musical experience. The idea of temporal pro-
portions is symptomatic of vague thinking about time on the part of musicians. Large-scale pe-
riods can only be judged by referring to some interna I or external chronometer. Heartbeat and
breath rate can give clues but they are at best unreliable, varying according to one 's state of
health and emotion. But even when we determine relationships between periods of time by means
of some "clock", the objective knowledge probably wi II not coincide with our experience of
the time duration involved. In fact, some psychologists have suggested that the awareness of
12 ELECTRONIC MUSIC REVIEW
time arises only from dissatisfaction with one's situation. If so, the better our estimations, the
less involved we must have been during the experience (not a favorable relationship from a com-
poser's standpoint). All experimenters draw attention to the fundamental differences between
durations judged as unitary events and those judged with the aid of some "clock". We are fre-
quently surprised by the evidence of objective time measurements, but although such information
affects our evaluations after the fact, it does not change the nature of our experience in time.
Pulse, felt through regular recurrence of accentor seen as a conductor's gestures ora performer's
actions, serves as a clock function. Identifiable elements (tunes, timbres, and rhythms) following
famil iar sequences also help to reinforce the artificial, countable symmetries in traditional forms;
but a truly proportional experience in time is an almost hopelessly complex goal. If achieved,
it would certainly bear no necessary relationship to numbers of bars or to seconds as measured by
objective clocks. A structure which can be defended only in terms of some objectively intended
symmetry or proportional ity in time is probably quite meaningless.
Though each separate musical experience will have some set of temporal relationships (probably
different for each listener at each hearing), one cannot imagine how they could be either very
precise or dependable (reproducible). Of course one can skirt this issue by dealing in static or
very gradually evolving pieces where the notion of proportionality is not relevant. Such ob-
jectively unitary experiences provide a quite different variety of stimulation, though the in-
evitable lapses or shifts in attention impose an intricate and indeterminate set of subj ective con-
trasts (hence, proportions).
Though for practical purposes it requires very little time to absorb the basic spatial relationships
and overall form of a stationary object, of a painting, the eyes perform hundreds of scanning
motions in collecting the impulses from which the brain constructs a "picture". Music which
stands deliberately still can do so either in the sense of striving to remain constant, as does La
Monte Young's The Tortoise, His Dreams and Journeys, presenting hours of a carefully retained,
uninterrupted sonority, or by mass textures such as the "timed mixtures'! that I have used, where
detail is indeterminate but where there are no overall trends. When music abandons its discur-
sive character, the ear can "scan" in the same way that the eye scans a visual texture. If one
does stop the flow, the stimulus should be complex, varied, or beguiling enough to stimulate and
reward a search. There is a physiological basis for the requirement of variety, and this will be
elaborated below.
* * *
Europeans and North Americans have strong ideas about time. To them it is a commodity that
can be owned, bought, borrowed, stolen, and wasted. But in Japan, for example, it cannot
be possessed. There is no way to say "my time", and the activity of work seems to be its own
end rather than a means toward conserving or making use of "one's time". Without going into
the sociological variations of outlooks on time, it is clear that they are many, and radically in-
fluential. On a more specific level, there are things to be said about individual physiological
capacities.
Biological systems respond primarily to change. The ear quickly detects any change in auditory
stimulation (including cessations) and routinely ignores the sameness of monotonous signals. Dur-
ing experiments with a totally uniform visual field, a third of the subjects experienced a com-
plete cessation of visual experience: not a "blackout", but a void, an absence. The experi-
JULY 1968
13
menter conjectured that perceptual mechanisms have evolved to cope with a differentiated field,
and when they meet with uniformity there may be a temporary breakdown.
Another instance of the remarkable way in which receptors respond to extreme situations emerged
from studies on visual fatigue. By attaching frames containing basic geometric figures directly
to the surface of the eye, it is possible to study the effects of visual fixation. As expected, fig-
ures tend to fade after prolonged observation when the eye is unable to scan, and thereby to en-
gage new receptor cells. (A similar phenomenon will later be observed in the case of the ear.)
Of particular interest was the fact that portions of the visual figures fade in a precise and orderly
manner, so that what remains is still definite, and usually a strong formal configuration. There
was no immediate explanation as to why the fading should be complete and selective rather than
involving blurs or capricious areas of the figures.
The mechanism of the ear is sensitive to intensity, frequency, and time, and is susceptible to
several varieties of fatigue. It would be interesting to know in what way aural sensations vary
with prolonged exposure, and whether one experiences orderly sorts of fading - fadings wh ich
remove complete segments of the total sensation, leaving partial but independently sufficient
impressions.
Change is especially important in auditory experience. Those who lose their hearing relatively
late in life complain not only of the lack of communication but that life seems to have lost its
"ongoing" character. Experiment has illuminated this by showing that psychological time runs
at quite different rates during noise than it does in relative silence. The comparatively high
level of stimulation during noise apparently speeds the flow of subjective time, and the subjec-
tive reproduction in si lence of a duration heard in noise will be considerably longer, objective-
Iy, than the original. This effect, produced by experimenters with white noise, would certainly
change if a patterned sound were used, but auditory background apparently acts in some way as
a calibrating monitor for our internal clocks. The same, incidentally, is true of temperature.
Time runs subjectively faster at higher body temperatures, as, for example, during illness.
Even when the factors already mentioned are kept relatively constant, there is marked variation
in the values of various thresholds (what level of sound is just audible, what is painfully loud,
how long should a sound be to be heard as having a duration, etc.) from person to person and
within the performance of individuals from day to day, hour to hour, and even within the span
of a few seconds. If a group of five identi cal sounds with a loudness level close to the thresh-
old of audibility is repeated several times in quick succession (taking, in all, 5 seconds), one
may hear all, or some, or none at each trial. Tones of high frequency will tend to become sub-
jectively softer as their duration extends, and may even disappear in time. Generally, it is
necessary to constantly increase the power of a sound in order to maintain a uniform subjective
loudness. These facts are relevant since our temporal judgments and the nature of our experi-
ences with time are based to a large degree on the number and spacing of the events whi ch de-
marcate or populate an interval. Of two objectively equal durations, the one which provides,
in retrospect, the larger number of meaningful memories will seem longer. If we miss some e-
vents, our impressions are necessarily altered.
Sensations of time are guided by the tensions of anticipated change: the ending, alteration, or
beginning of phenomena. In music there is usually a fabric of multiplestrands or related events,
but the ways in which their relationships are measured may not coincide. When one system of
parameters is accepted, others may become difficult to integrate or even irrational. For exam-
ple, in normal situations we can perceive pitch and loudness changes with one ear while sitting
14
ELECTRONIC MUSIC REVIEW
motionless. If we are required to take account of left to right antiphonies, apparent or actual
movement of sounds, we must use both ears, still remaining motionless. But if the patterns of
spatial movement require us to identify up and down as we" as shifts to left and right, we must
be free to move, to change the orientation of our ears with respect to the environment. These
phenomena are due to amplitude and phase differences (at high and low frequencies, respec-
tively) resulting from the slightly different distance from the source to the right and to the left
ear.
The set of a listener about to hear a piece of music - the momentary collection of his relevant
experiences, capacities, expectations, physical conditions, and so on - may be the overriding
factor in his response, yet there is rarely more than casual attention paid to it. Traditional rit-
uals of dress, place, and decorum evolved because of the desirability of a common context (the
concert situation), but we rarely consider how complex the effects of individual variations in
set are, and almost never make attempts to influence it.
If an observer is presented briefly with an incongruity - a combination of events which his ex-
perience contradi cts - experiments have shown that there are four categories of response: dom-
inance, when clashing characteristics are altered so as to fit with one which is dominant, and
accurately reported; compromise, when none of the objective facts is correctly retained, but
a" are altered to achieve an acceptable concurrence; disruption, when the subject simply re-
jects a" facts and cannot report what happened at a"; or recognition, where, in spite of the
briefness of exposure, the objective facts are perceived and the subject reports a new (and for
him unprecedented) event. These same conditions may we" apply to aural experience.
In visual experiments, there has been speculation about whether one can respond to a symbol
that he has not consciously recognized. There is considerable difference of opinion (parti cu larly
about the practical application, "subliminal advertising ") but there is definitely a complex of
dependencies, tendencies, and interactions during the brief time span within which recognition
occurs. During this interval, characteristics which suggest undesirable items may be repressed,
while others that suggest familiar and acceptable events will be weighted to confirm judgments
in the subjectively positive direction.
One might attempt to influence set directly, supplying information about the duration of a work
before it begins, marking the moments at which particular attentiveness is required, and so on.
This seems a little crude, though there can be no doubt that acuity is much improved when one
knows when a change (an event) wi" probably occur. Our extraordinary sensitivity to nuance
in the performance of traditional music is due to the foreknowledge that massive familiarity pro-
vides. Other approaches such as lighting, disposition of seats, relative location of listeners
and sound sources have been tried tentatively, but little systematic information about their ef-
fects has been collected. Some "happeners" have tried intimidation, but even the sympathetic
observer rejects overt manipulation. Itls a delicate area, no doubt, but we" worth additional
thought, for mental disposition not only alters the color of experience but can actua"ydetermine
which objective facts we perceive and which we do not.
There is still disagreement among physiologists as to whether attentiveness increases the inten-
sity of a perception or enhances the short-term memory of it, but the effects are sometimes de-
cisive, even in the most basic situation. As noted above, if two signals reach the brain simul-
taneously (and this is not the same as saying that they occurred simultaneously in objective time),
the one which is attended to - either consciously or unconsciously - wi" be perceived as oc-
curring first. Similarly, the more intense of two objectively simultaneous impulses wi" appear
JULY 1968 15
to take place earlier. This is part of the mechanism of apparent motion, whereby the brain in-
terprets several stationary stimulus points (either aural, visual, or tactile) as a single moving
stimulus.
Even more striking is the evidence uncovered by Dr. Paul H. Peon: If aseriesof clicks are sound-
ed near a cat1s ear, matching impulses will travel up the ascending nerve paths to the auditory
regions of the cortex; but when a fish is held in front of the animal1s nose, and the clicks con-
tinue, the related impulses stop. Since the cat1s attention is focused on the fish, it apparently
turns off or diverts the nerve paths earlier concerned with the cI icks. Not only can the brain
ignore or suppress information to which it is not willing to attend, but it can actually prevent
associated impulses from being transmitted.
A normal person, viewing a reversible line drawing, will experience a periodic alternation of
impressions as to whether the figure advances or recedes. Although the initial period between
shifts (caused by the saturation of one perception and the involuntary substitution of another) may
be 5 seconds in the extreme, the rate of alternation gradually increases as fixation continues.
Again, ohe would like to know more explicitly what occurs for the listener who is subjected to
a complex but unchanging sound. Personal experience with extremely prolonged or incessantly
repeated sounds suggests that there are periodi c fluctuations in what aspect of the sound one is
paying attention to.
If one concentrates on a train of signals, its elements are retained in the brain for approximately
5-6 seconds, while elements of an unattended series remain for only 1-2 seconds. Since we can-
not attend to more than one sequence at a time, there are definite limits to the sorts of multiple
sequences that can be "comprehended" simultaneously even in the best of circumstances. There
is, in addition, an increment of time (1/6 of a second) taken by each shift in attention. This
means that very rapid alterations in auditory attentiveness are not only fatiguing, but make the
material literally "unintelligible". Yet some forms of attentiveness require no conscious effort,
and when motivation is high, one can perform remarkable feats of perception. Talking at a par-
ty, in the midst of a dozen other conversations of varying speeds and intensities, the noises of
dishes, background music, traffic, and so on, one can catch the sound of his own name from
across the room.
To achieve even rudimentary control over patterns of time experience, it is useful to frame some
general categories of time experiences. In Blind Men for chorus, brass, and percussion, I use
three varieties: traditionally conducted sections, in which length is definite; "timed mixtures"
which are not conducted, and consist of composite impressions made up of a large number of in-
dividual but similar elements (each player works independently with similar aims, but never calls
attention to himself); joining these two primary kinds of sections are "Iinks", or single events
with some natural limitation on their durations (the capacity of one breath, the decay time of
a struck object, the time required to reach consensus in some kind of joint task, etc.). The con-
ducted sections provide fami I iar temporal sensations for any experienced I istener to contemporary
music. The conductor1s beat and other temporal sound patterns provide foils against which the
passage of events can be measured; but one has, on first hearing, no clue as to their durations.
A continuously changing texture of events is employed so that each primary element is within the
durational range for perceptions (up to approximately 5 seconds). In short, the conducted sec-
tions concentrate on the small temporal dimension, while the overall is "clocked".
Timed mixtures are all precisely the same length, 60 seconds, but during them no clock functions
operate. There is change, but no trends develop. There is no more reason to attend to one thing
than another, and one is released from the obligation to uncover dependencies or relationships.
16
ELECTRONIC MUSIC REVIEW
After the first few timed mixtures, the listener may become aware of or guess their objectively
equivalent length. (All conducted sections are much longer or shorter than one minute and all
links are shorter.) If so, he may notice that their apparent length differs according to the way
in which they are populated with more or less interesting aural experiences.
The natural processes whi ch form the I inks, once initiated, are not interfered with. They pro-
ject - because of our previous experience with such systems - a particular sensation of time:
a variable, and to some degree indeterminate, and yet an anticipated duration. Like the timed
mixtures, they involve expected endings, in contrast to the conducted sections about whose du-
rations nothing is known. links are also passive like the timed mixtures in that their processes
are orderly and do not require constant attention, but they tend to generate temporal awareness
as one's expectations are played off against the endurance and skills of the performers.
The factors cited above are only a small fraction of what is involved in shaping our individual
experience of time, but they should be suffi cient to make one th ing clear. The tendency to seek
absolute information on auditory or perceptive capacities, and to achieve foolproof (control-
lable) performance conditions - even with the aid of computers - is unrealistic at this time.
Even assuming a uniform, high level of motivation for all listeners, what is physically possible
for one will not be for another. Increasing precision in the control of traditionally oriented mu-
sical stimuli (more or less ideal, unchanging sound objects projected at the listener from one
direction) does not imply a complementary increase in control over the listener's response. The
composer's range of concerns should be enlarged. There are many perceptual capacities to be
explored, and from my own standpoint, interest in notational procedures and performer - group
dynamics remains secondary to the importance of changing and enlarging the repertoire of the
individual listener's responses, through far more complete knowledge of how they come about.
The way in whi ch a sound is made is, in the end, incidental to how it sounds to the individual
listener.
A BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY
du Preez, P. "Reproduction of Time Intervals after Short Periods of Delay", The Journal of Gen-
eral Psychology, LXXVI, 1, Jan. 1967, 59.
Fraisse, P. The Psychology of Time, tr. J. Leith, Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1964.
Habner, R. N. II Nature of the Effect of Set on Perception", Psychological Review, LXXIII, 4,
July 1966, 335.
Hirsh, I.J., R.C. Bilger, B.H. Deatherage. liThe Effect of Auditory and Visual Background on
Apparent Duration", The American Journal of Psychology, LXIX, 4, Dec. 1956, 561.
McNulty, J.A., F.J. Dockrill, B.A. Levy. liThe Subthreshold Perception of Stimulus-Meaning",
The American Journal of Psychology, LXXX, 1, March 1967, 28.
Moles, A. Information Theory and Aestheti c Perception, tr. J. E. Cohen, University of Illinois
Press, Urbana, 1965.
Stevens, S.S., ed. Handbook of Experimental Psychology, Wiley and Sons, New York, 1951.
Van Bergeijk, W.A., J.R. Pierce, E.E. David, Jr. Waves and the Ear, Doubleday, Anchor
Books, Garden City, 1960.
Vernon, M. D., ed. Experiments in Visual Perception, Penguin Books, Middlesex, 1966.
Winckel, F. Music, Sound and Sensation, tr. T. Binkley, Dover Books, New York, 1967.
JULY 1968 17
A Variable Speed Tape Drive
Walter Carlos
VFO, which stands for Variable Frequency Oscillator, is the name usually given to a device
commonly found in larger electronic music studios. This device consists of a sine-wave oscil-
lator of good stability that operates in the 30-120 Hz range, a power amplifier that can supply
50-100 watts AC power at 70-110 volts, and an appropriate switching and metering unit. The
latter (Fig. 1) is used to connect the oscillator to the input of the amplifier, remove the normal
power feed to the hysteresis - synchronous capstan motor of the tape recorder whose speed is to
be controlled, and reconnect the motor as the load across the amplifier's output. In this way,
the oscillator's frequency, and not the power company's nominal 60 Hz, determines the tape re-
corder's speed, which can now be adjusted to values other than 7.5 or 15 ips, within limitations
set by the particular machine. In practice, a range of 50% is commonly obtained.
When the VFO technique is combined with the more usual practice of half and double -speed
copying and mixing, virtually the entire continuum of all possible effective tape speeds is avail-
able. Pitch and tempo variations of original electronic and acoustic materials may be controlled
with convenience and, if the oscillator is accurately calibrated, with precision.
In sel-sync work with certain real-time performances of electronic or acoustic materials, it may
be desirable to work at a speed somewhere between 7.5 and 15 ips (the former being too slow
for proper rhythmic II feel ", the latter too fast for exacting articulational demands). In such a
case, the VFO will provide a range of workable speeds with which to drive the multi-track tape
machine.
In my own work, both of the above requirements suggested the purchase of a VFO for my studio.
Since I use Ampex 300 and AG- 440 tape recorders, it was important that the VFO be powerful
enough to drive these machines without attendant wow or flutter, and also that it conform to Am-
FIG. 1.
COMPLETED VFO CONTROL UNIT. OTHER
SCHEMES, SUCH AS RACK PANEL MOUNTING,
ARE POSSIBLE.
18 ELECTRONIC MUSIC REVIEW
pex's connections for their own abortively priced motor-drive-amplifier-oscillator. Price was a
consideration. 50 was the fact that I already owned a fairly stable audi'o oscillator which per-
formed well in the 30-120 Hz range. Thus, I decided it would be expeditious to construct my
own unit.
The first decision was that of power amplifier. I knew that high -power audio amplifiers could
be used with success. Investigating several recording studios, I discovered that Heathkit, Bogen,
and Dynakit power ampl ifiers were frequently used and were dependable. I purchased the Dyna
Mark 111-70/ A, a wired tube amplifier, 60-watt continuous output power, with a 70-volt out-
put tap . The trans istor power ampl ifiers available in th is class might be good alternatives, ex-
cept they are trickier to connect and may not be able to supply full voltage at the motor's im-
pedance . The conservatively-rated Mark III has ample power for all Ampex capstan motors.
All interconnections between the oscillator's output, the amplifier's input and output, and the
cable from an eight - pin Jones connector to the Ampex (other connectors must be used for dif-
ferent tape machines), are located within a small aluminum sloping -panel cabinet, approxi-
mately 5" square . Here are also located an AC voltmeter to measure the voltage being applied
to the capstan motor, a switch for convenient alternation between normal line and VFO drive
functions, and an adjustable shift -lock control to preset voltages in the VFO position so that,
at a convenient output setting of the oscillator (maximum), the proper voltage (approximately 95
volts in VFO position) can be fed the capstan motor without undue loading and clipping in the
amplifier, or stalling or vibration of the motor.
The schematic I used is shown in Fig. 2. It can be easily adapted to most particular needs. I
used an expensive 5impsonvoltmeter for accuracy, which has a scale from 0-150 volts, but per-
hapsa less expensive meter would be satisfactory. The level-set pot is an Allen-Bradley 2-watt
molded unit. The switch is a rotary in steatite (ceramic) by 5witchcraft. The whole project,
including cables and connectors, cost well under $140 and involved a single evening's work to
assemble.
For convenient operation, the small cabinet is best located with in reach of both the tape trans-
port and the oscillator. The power amplifier can be remotely located for best ventilation. An
auxiliary remote power switch for the amplifier could be installed in the small cabinet. In the
LI NE position, the amp Ii fier si ts unterminated on either input or output, but the Mark III is stabl e
enough to sit that way without thermal or other runaway.
LINE
1
'0 60